The Bruce Allen/GM Thread

[FrFan]

[SkinsFTW]

Lol the draft.

 

As long as the fans keep buying into the winning off the field that's what they will keep delivering.

 

And that draft sucked.

 

That's probably when they sold all of their season tickets this year though.

 

[FrFan]

Deuterostome (taxonomic term: Deuterostomia; meaning "second mouth" in Greek) : in deuterostomes, the first opening (the blastopore) becomes the anus.

Some people in our FO

[dyst]

This is one loooooooooooooong rebuild. 

[Digger]

Just another 20 or 30 years and we'll be close

[Est.1974]

27 minutes ago, dyst said:

This is one loooooooooooooong rebuild. 

 

Yep. 

 

I mean im not even looking forward to the offseason, loads of cap space, probable top 3 draft pick. The thought of that opportunity to at least slightly starting over being destroyed by Bruce is all the more depressing.....

[dyst]

22 minutes ago, UK SKINS FAN '74 said:

 

Yep. 

 

I mean im not even looking forward to the offseason, loads of cap space, probable top 3 draft pick. The thought of that opportunity to at least slightly starting over being destroyed by Bruce is all the more depressing.....

Bring in a new GM, who will hire his own staff to include head coach. The coach in turn would pick his own staff. Let new GM use this new found cap space to sign free agents, trade whatever assets we have and let him decide on the draft picks. If we allow Bruce to do all this, then we are screw again.

[Wildbunny]

On 11/22/2019 at 5:19 PM, dicksogj said:

 

Yep.  In an era where corporate sponsorship basically covers the cost of a stadium over a relatively short period of time - like it has w/ FedEx during Snyder's tenure - then it is a crime to ask for taxpayer dollars to fund these stadiums when the money could be used for a lot more worthy causes.

Well Dan is allowed to ask for taxpayer to pay for the new stadium.

 

But if He and Bruce still believes they can get a new stadium in the DC Area and have it paid by taxpayer, they are really crazy.

 

Politicians aren't dumb in any way.  They most often goes for what is their best interest and their isn't much interest for them right now to grant Bruce and Dan their wishes.

They are seeing the stadium being empty or filled with opposing fans. They are aware of fan unrest against Bruce. Fans are also voters and I doubt those that would hypothetically goi the Bruce and Dan way would gain much support from voters. So they'd better stay away from it. Selling land and stuff will be fine, but have the taxpayers pay for the stadium. I don't see any of them giving them 1 dollar right now. Because it's not in their interest.

 

They wouldn't want to be associated to a JerruhWorld stadium in Dc area only to have it emptied and filled with opposing fans.. That would be a nightmare both financially and politcally...

[Thinking Skins]

4 hours ago, Wildbunny said:

 

Politicians aren't dumb in any way.  They most often goes for what is their best interest and their isn't much interest for them right now to grant Bruce and Dan their wishes.

 They are seeing the stadium being empty or filled with opposing fans. They are aware of fan unrest against Bruce. Fans are also voters and I doubt those that would hypothetically goi the Bruce and Dan way would gain much support from voters. So they'd better stay away from it. Selling land and stuff will be fine, but have the taxpayers pay for the stadium. I don't see any of them giving them 1 dollar right now. Because it's not in their interest.

I'm not big on calling people dumb but many politicians are known for NOT being the top of the class, just the most charismatic. 

 

Add to that, there will have to be some support, just roads and infrastructure alone. But the question becomes what else. Its easy to imagine a FedExField version 2, but look at what a new stadium did to Tampa, to Dallas, to the Seahawks with crowd noise, to Indy with the open/close roof, to Minnesota, etc. And these politicians arent always thinking about the citizens. They want their name in lights, in history, and they know that if they can be a part of the team that brings the Skins back to stardom, even if at this level its just the gameday experience, I wouldnt count them out. 

 

That said, I dont think its anywhere near a given and as much as Dan and Bruce mess up the Skins I don't put it past them to mess it up. Just look at Dan's other businesses

[BurgundyBooger]

There are too many negative factors linked to the Redskins to arouse any sort of taxpayer sympathy in the organization's cause to have a stadium publicly funded. Too many residents simply do not like Daniel Snyder; they don't like the team name; they don't care to appease the interests of a wealthy corporation when it represents an unneeded complication in the city's current dilemma, namely housing and gentrification as well as other negative externalities as demonstrated in the aftermath of the Nationals Park opening back in 2008. Although Dan is young relative to his contemporaries, he exudes the peculiarities of old money and brooding greed that are at odds with the reformed liberal values and mood as depicted by the city, a city whose present-day tax base is almost completely disassociated from that of yesteryear whose longstanding residency in the town preserved local cultures and permitted them to pass those values down one generation after the next before rising costs relocated them across the river, into PG County, or wherever else their fandom could no longer translate into a political voice in the District. Snyder's only hope for a DC stadium is for his Landover team to win and to win consistently until the town is awashed in euphoria from victory after victory to the point of numbing them to the notion of funding it at the cost of handwaving all other local concerns.

 

[Skinsinparadise]

 

Dan Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins, turns 55 today. Fans of the team aren’t sending birthday wishes.

The Washington Redskins have become the dregs of the National Football League. The team is a perennial loser, not in a hapless, lovable way like the old New York Mets, but in an ugly, irritating way, like a nasty shaving cut or a neighbor’s dog that barks all night. (Shut up!) 

The problem here—as is always the case with a team that stinks for so long—is the owner. It’s an equation really. Bad owner equals bad team. There are plenty of examples of this in sports and of course in business, too. (And at this level, sports is a business. A big business.)

What precisely do I mean by bad owner? It’s not just incompetence. I’m talking about deficiency of character. Sure professional sports owners are a sharp-elbowed bunch, but some are way worse than that. Just a few recent examples: Donald Sterling of the LA Clippers. Both John Spano and Charles Wang of the New York Islanders. The Dolans of the New York Knicks. And at the top of the list today I say, is Dan Snyder.

I’m hardly the first to make this call. Five years ago, Rolling Stone created a ranking of worst sports owners in the U.S., (a great read, btw), and Snyder was their number one pick. To my mind, he’s yet to be dethroned. 

 

...Why would he sell?’

For some perspective, let’s compare Snyder’s reign to that of the Redskins’ ancient foe, the Dallas Cowboys, AKA America’s Team—yes, that makes me nauseous too—under its current owner Jerry Jones. The Cowboys’ high-profile owner is of course no saint. Jones, (who you may recall played football at the University of Arkansas), is brash, partisan, and has been fined by the league for criticizing officials. He also settled a sexual assault lawsuit. Not surprisingly perhaps, Jones checks in at number four on Rolling Stone’s list of bad owners.

Having said that, Jones hasn’t created the same toxicity in Dallas that Snyder has in Washington. And Jones has built something bigger.

Thirty years ago, Jones bought the Cowboys for $140 million. Today the team is the most valuable sports team in America, worth $5.5 billion, according to Forbes. Jones’ annual rate of return over that period: 13.0% 

There may be some subtleties lost here, in that Snyder or Jones may have used more borrowed money than the other, but the bottom line is this: The increase in value of the Cowboys under Jones beats the Redskins under Snyder by 5.5 percentage points per annum. 

Ouch.

 

...Even more than the numbers, the money and the win-loss record though, is the general lack of decency in Washington. What’s the exact impact of that? Hard to say. But no doubt failure on the field reflects it to a degree. 

Conventional wisdom has it that Snyder will never sell the team—Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and others are reportedly poking around. “Why would he sell,” asks Andrew Zimbalist, the Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College. “Maybe the criticism gets to him, or he needs the money or he thinks football teams are at peak valuation.” Not likely though. Also not likely is that the NFL will never make him sell. (Even though a few years ago, another NFL team owner spoke to me of the great antipathy he and the others have for Snyder.)

“In a dark world, perhaps some fans are secretly hoping something scandalous engulfs Snyder the way something scandalous engulfed other sports owners and forced their hand,” says Rishe. “Short of that, there is nothing the NFL can do to push him out.”

At some point though you have to ask, what’s the end game here? Dan Snyder could own the team for another 30-plus years, right? In the meantime, fans must suffer and wait it out.

 

[veteranskinsfan]

9 hours ago, Thinking Skins said:

I'm not big on calling people dumb but many politicians are known for NOT being the top of the class, just the most charismatic. 

 

Add to that, there will have to be some support, just roads and infrastructure alone. But the question becomes what else. Its easy to imagine a FedExField version 2, but look at what a new stadium did to Tampa, to Dallas, to the Seahawks with crowd noise, to Indy with the open/close roof, to Minnesota, etc. And these politicians arent always thinking about the citizens. They want their name in lights, in history, and they know that if they can be a part of the team that brings the Skins back to stardom, even if at this level its just the gameday experience, I wouldnt count them out. 

 

That said, I dont think its anywhere near a given and as much as Dan and Bruce mess up the Skins I don't put it past them to mess it up. Just look at Dan's other businesses

I agree with your post except for the one statement- "politicians are not dumb" !!  Yes, they focus on self interest but many of them are dumb too.  Two things can be

equally true in this case I guess.

[veteranskinsfan]

1 hour ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

Dan Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins, turns 55 today. Fans of the team aren’t sending birthday wishes.

The Washington Redskins have become the dregs of the National Football League. The team is a perennial loser, not in a hapless, lovable way like the old New York Mets, but in an ugly, irritating way, like a nasty shaving cut or a neighbor’s dog that barks all night. (Shut up!) 

The problem here—as is always the case with a team that stinks for so long—is the owner. It’s an equation really. Bad owner equals bad team. There are plenty of examples of this in sports and of course in business, too. (And at this level, sports is a business. A big business.)

What precisely do I mean by bad owner? It’s not just incompetence. I’m talking about deficiency of character. Sure professional sports owners are a sharp-elbowed bunch, but some are way worse than that. Just a few recent examples: Donald Sterling of the LA Clippers. Both John Spano and Charles Wang of the New York Islanders. The Dolans of the New York Knicks. And at the top of the list today I say, is Dan Snyder.

I’m hardly the first to make this call. Five years ago, Rolling Stone created a ranking of worst sports owners in the U.S., (a great read, btw), and Snyder was their number one pick. To my mind, he’s yet to be dethroned. 

 

...Why would he sell?’

For some perspective, let’s compare Snyder’s reign to that of the Redskins’ ancient foe, the Dallas Cowboys, AKA America’s Team—yes, that makes me nauseous too—under its current owner Jerry Jones. The Cowboys’ high-profile owner is of course no saint. Jones, (who you may recall played football at the University of Arkansas), is brash, partisan, and has been fined by the league for criticizing officials. He also settled a sexual assault lawsuit. Not surprisingly perhaps, Jones checks in at number four on Rolling Stone’s list of bad owners.

Having said that, Jones hasn’t created the same toxicity in Dallas that Snyder has in Washington. And Jones has built something bigger.

Thirty years ago, Jones bought the Cowboys for $140 million. Today the team is the most valuable sports team in America, worth $5.5 billion, according to Forbes. Jones’ annual rate of return over that period: 13.0% 

There may be some subtleties lost here, in that Snyder or Jones may have used more borrowed money than the other, but the bottom line is this: The increase in value of the Cowboys under Jones beats the Redskins under Snyder by 5.5 percentage points per annum. 

Ouch.

 

...Even more than the numbers, the money and the win-loss record though, is the general lack of decency in Washington. What’s the exact impact of that? Hard to say. But no doubt failure on the field reflects it to a degree. 

Conventional wisdom has it that Snyder will never sell the team—Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and others are reportedly poking around. “Why would he sell,” asks Andrew Zimbalist, the Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College. “Maybe the criticism gets to him, or he needs the money or he thinks football teams are at peak valuation.” Not likely though. Also not likely is that the NFL will never make him sell. (Even though a few years ago, another NFL team owner spoke to me of the great antipathy he and the others have for Snyder.)

“In a dark world, perhaps some fans are secretly hoping something scandalous engulfs Snyder the way something scandalous engulfed other sports owners and forced their hand,” says Rishe. “Short of that, there is nothing the NFL can do to push him out.”

At some point though you have to ask, what’s the end game here? Dan Snyder could own the team for another 30-plus years, right? In the meantime, fans must suffer and wait it out.

 

I did not know he turns 55 today.  Perhaps before he goes to sleep tonight he can reflect on his life and begin to undergo some type of male menopause and realize that it is time to move on from the Redskins.  He must set the team free and in doing so he can remain a fan but a more distant fan and take his billions and use it for greater purposes like helping to cure cancer or helping people in this country who go to bed at night without a roof over their heads or sufficient food in their stomachs.

Maybe he can turn his life around like the movie-Its A Wonderful Life.   Maybe he can make an appointment on January 2nd to see a shrink and the shrink can help him realize that the path he is on will not lead to success but rather only more misery and heartache.  Being in denial and being stubborn and not listening to people around you whom you trust is not a good thing at all.  Go enjoy the yacht and the IMAX theater too.  Release the burden it has been to own the team and not getting the winning results he has always wanted.  The old Redskins who won those Super Bowls every year get more popular from fans of this team as the losing continues.  Right now Gruden is laughing because the ball coach you replaced him with is not getting better results with the team.  If the Danny leaves and a new owner is not successful then fans might start to appreciate him more and the press might say "at least Dan Snyder put a lot of money and effort into trying to make the Skins a winner".

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

So Dan’s birthday is today, huh?

 

What a gift it would be to witness Jeff Driscoll beat his team in front of three dozen fans.

 

Tomorrow is my bday, that I happen to share with Mr. Joe Gibbs.  

[Wildbunny]

3 minutes ago, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

So Dan’s birthday is today, huh?

 

What a gift it would be to witness Jeff Driscoll beat his team in front of three dozen fans.

 

Tomorrow is my bday, that I happen to share with Mr. Joe Gibbs.  

Oh then after Dan gets his gift with no one or much in attendance today and losing the game, I'll wish you an happy birthday with Dan selling the team as a gift

 

One can dream...

[Peregrine]

Another brilliant play by Allen, shown to be the fool again by not cutting Norman this offseason when everyone called for it.  Now we have to eat his cap this year, and have finally declared hes not one of our top 3-4 CBs.  Bruce decided to pay 12 million to a #4 at best CB, just like he decided to retain Jay, keep Vernon Davis, and Reed.

The mans is playing in a league of his own.

[Est.1974]

I'd say a good 40% of our cap space is swallowed up on players not active today.

[KillBill26]

1 hour ago, Peregrine said:

Another brilliant play by Allen, shown to be the fool again by not cutting Norman this offseason when everyone called for it.  Now we have to eat his cap this year, and have finally declared hes not one of our top 3-4 CBs.  Bruce decided to pay 12 million to a #4 at best CB, just like he decided to retain Jay, keep Vernon Davis, and Reed.

The mans is playing in a league of his own.

The rationale for keeping these vets is mind boggling.  They are basically saying, "you know, I really want to keep Norman around to contribute to our 1-15 season instead of getting compensation for him, but then I'll just release him in the off-season.  And I'd like to pay him 12 mil that could've been rolled over to next year. "

 

 

[jjpomeroy]

2 hours ago, veteranskinsfan said:

Maybe he can turn his life around like the movie-Its A Wonderful Life.  

I think the most appropriate movie comparison would be to Charles Dickens “Christmas Carol” (I prefer the Mister Magoo version).

 

[SkinsFTW]

4 minutes ago, jjpomeroy said:

I think the most appropriate movie comparison would be to Charles Dickens “Christmas Carol” (I prefer the Mister Magoo version).

 

 

You are free to dream any dream you like!

 

Here in the real world it's more like this:

 

[Makaveli]

 

 

[Springfield]

Gotta say, I have little to no confidence that the replacement to Allen can produce a winner either.

[Wildbunny]

3 hours ago, Makaveli said:

 

 

Either said too much or not enough....

[SlinginSammy HOF '63]

3 hours ago, Springfield said:

Gotta say, I have little to no confidence that the replacement to Allen can produce a winner either.

 

Replacing Allen will do nothing as long as the guy at the top is still there. I mean, every time Dan makes a change you think/hope he haas an epiphany and decides to hire competent management and sits back and enjoys the team, but he can't help himself.

[skins island connection]

The 'Fan Support' chart { atop page } by FrFan kinda reminds me of the outline for the new Tesla truck.

Maybe the idea is to start throwing rocks or something...